1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of flexible printed wiring connectors and, more specifically, to arch connectors for connecting flexible printed wiring members to printed circuit boards and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Printed circuit boards, both rigid and flexible, are widely used throughout the electronics industry. Most electronic consumer products contain circuit boards; for example, cameras having an electronic flash. The circuit boards, either rigid or flexible, often require interconnection between them. Numerous interconnection devices have been employed for connecting two printed circuit boards These interconnection devices utilize connecting components which require numerous parts and special tooling in their manufacture These devices are generally bulky, rigid, and not easily adaptable to various physical design configurations or other special design requirements. Such interconnection devices are costly, also.
For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,298 discloses a rigid printed wiring board connector for use as part of a rigid printed wiring board. This connector is integrally formed with the rigid printed wiring board The rigid connector has rigid finger-like structures which mate with other rigid finger-like structures or with apertures in a rigid receiving printed wiring board A drawback of this type of connector is that special means are required to secure the connector in the rigid receiving printed wiring board; that is, the rigid receiving printed wiring board must be provided with some kind of grasping means to grasp and hold the connector. Having to provide some kind of grasping means requires small tolerances and increased cost in the use of such a connector. Furthermore, such a connector is not easily adaptable to various design requirements of a particular application, especially one involving flexible printed circuits.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,546, a hybrid integrated circuit component is disclosed, the component being formed on a flexible printed circuit and having a connector for insertion into a slot of a motherboard. This connector is similar to a card edge connector and requires rigid support plates. The requirement of rigid support plates increases the cost of manufacturing and using such a device. Furthermore, the connector as disclosed is not easily adaptable to various design requirements of a particular application for interconnecting two printed circuit boards.
Still another interconnecting means is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,805,213. The '213 patent discloses a flexible circuit connector similar to a card edge connector. In particular, two sets of connector elements along a single edge of a flexible circuit member are bonded to opposite sides of a rigid member. The disadvantage of such a connector is the requirement of the rigid member and thus increasing the manufacturing cost.
Other interconnecting means taught in the art include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,085,502 and 3,997,229. The '502 patent discloses a jumper cable comprising a plurality of spaced metallic conductors, each conductor having a flexible area and integrally formed rigid terminal ends. The '229 patent discloses a flexible connecting means having a plurality of parallel metal strips; wherein, the metal strips have curled tubular ends provided with stiffening means to provide contact means thereat. A drawback of the interconnecting means disclosed in the '502 patent and the '229 patent is the requirement of having rigid or stiffened terminal ends. Such a requirement increases the manufacturing cost and decreases the adaptability of such devices to the design requirements of a particular application.